New scholarships to bolster nursing

To stem the dwindling number of nurses, two organizations are pumping money into making more of them in South Carolina.

The S.C. BlueCross Foundation named its first fellows Tuesday in a $1.5 million graduate-level nursing scholarship program. The money offers financial support for advanced-degree nursing students who will eventually become faculty in nursing education programs across the state.

Gail Stuart, dean of the Medical University of South Carolina's College of Nursing, said, "With the budget growing more dismal, nurses who are thinking of becoming faculty may put that off because of their own finances."

In the last five to 10 years, salaries for nurses with advanced degrees in clinical settings have outstripped academic salaries by as much as $30,000, Stuart said. "That's too much of a gap for people not to be aware of," she said.

Without enough faculty, fewer nurses will be produced in a state that has a severe nursing shortage expected to peak in 2020, experts say.

South Carolina has the 11th-lowest registered nurse to population ratio in the U.S., according to information provided by MUSC's College of Nursing.

Cathy Mulloy of Mount Pleasant, one of the 16 recipients from across the state, is pursuing a master's degree in nursing education at MUSC. "It came as a big sigh of relief as I realized how much more in debt I would be if I pursued this degree," she said of her $20,000 stipend.

In a separate gesture, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation gave $200,000 to MUSC nursing students this year. Scholarships in the amount of $10,000 will go to 20 entry-level students in the accelerated nursing program.

Preference is given to under-represented students, which in the nursing field are men and minorities.

Reach Jill Coleyat 937-5719 or jcoley@postandcourier.com.